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Half Moon Bay residents urge sheriffs office to enforce fireworks rules after nights of loud explosions
Summary
Residents told the city council they have endured repeated late-night blasts since July 4. The captain on duty said the department logged 40 fireworks complaints in the city and described patrol, buyback and technology options but warned enforcement has practical limits.
Residents told the Half Moon Bay City Council on Tuesday that repeated late-night explosions and fireworks since the Fourth of July are disturbing sleep, frightening pets and creating fire and public-safety concerns.
Several speakers asked the San Mateo County Sheriff—s Office to do more than ask offenders to "tone it down," and to use existing municipal code enforcement tools to issue fines. Jimmy Benjamin, a longtime resident, said he expects deputies to enforce the law rather than default to a lenient approach.
The matter was raised during the public forum, when Benjamin and other neighbors described frequent bursts of fireworks late at night. Benjamin cited Half Moon Bay municipal code sections 9.14 and 9.23 as making fireworks violations enforceable and asked the council to direct deputies to issue citations rather than merely asking people to quiet down.
Captain Cheetah of the Sheriff's Office responded at the meeting, saying that police logging and enforcement practices shape how incidents appear on public portals. He said the city's transparency portal lists only cases that become formal reports and that many fireworks complaints are tracked in the department—s CAD dispatch system rather than by case number.
"Between July 4 to now, we—d only received 40 fireworks complaints in Half Moon Bay," the captain said. He added that roughly 65% of those calls occurred between Friday and Saturday nights between about 9 p.m. and midnight, and that downtown and west-of-Highway 1 show identifiable hotspots.
The captain described steps the department has taken and options under consideration: targeted patrols during the identified night-time windows; follow-up with complainants to establish patterns; seeking funding for a fireworks buyback program similar to earlier efforts (he said a prior buyback collected more than 50 pounds of explosives); and piloting limited drone use for incident response if the public is comfortable with the idea. He also said shot-spotter technology exists in the county (East Palo Alto) but requires years to tune and significant infrastructure.
Council members and several residents pressed for more visible enforcement and for deputies to make citations more often. A council member reminded residents that the municipal code provides a $1,000 fine for violations. Mayor Brownstone said the city and sheriff—s office will continue to pursue both near-term enforcement and longer-term prevention options, including a potential buyback and expanded public outreach.
The council did not adopt new enforcement policy at the meeting. The sheriff—s captain invited residents to call dispatch (he provided both a 911 and a nonemergency number the department uses) and asked the public to document incidents so the department can identify patterns.
